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SPEECH 



OP 



MR. JOSHUA A. LOWELL, 



OF MAINE, 



ON THE ARMY APPROPRIATION BILL: 



DELIVERED IN THE 



'' 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



.%3Tr 



MONDAY, MAY 30, 1842. ^ 

1^ 



WASHINGTON : 

PRINTED AT THE GLOBE OFFICE. 
1842. 



SPEECH. 



^fhe House being in Committee of the Whole 
on the sate of the Union (Mr. Underwood of 
Kentucky in the chair) on the bill "making ap- 
propriations for the support of the army and of the 
military academy for the year 1849" — 

Mr. LOWELL addressed the committee as fol- 
lows : 

Mr. Chairman: I concur fully in the opinion ex- 
pressed by the honorable gentleman from Virginia, 
[Mr. Gilmer,] that it is contrary to the genius and 
true policy of our Government to maintain a large 
standing army in time of peace. We ought, how- 
ever, to have our military defences on a respectable 
footing, as compared with those of other nations. 
The commanding points on our extensive mari- 
time and inland frontier should be strongly forti- 
fied; and a sufficient number of men should be at 
all times stationed at those places, to protect the 
public property, and to resist successfully any ordi- 
nary assaults. Other places of importance upon the 
inland frontier, exposed to sudden invasions from 
the inhabitants of the adjoining territory, or to the 
incursions of Indian tribes located on our borders, 
ought also to be suitably fortified and defended at 
all times. 

In addition to this, we need, in the language of the 
honorable gentleman from North Carolina, [Mr. 
McKay,] " a skeleton army," composed of some of 
all the officers and various corps which would be 
needed in actual service ; so that, in time of war, 
this small regular army, thoroughly drilled, disci- 
plined, and instructed in all the arts of arms, may 
be made the nucleus around which to rally the mi- 
litia of the whole country, to any extent that the ex- 
igencies of the times may require. 

We need, then, even in time of peace, some per- 
manent military force for the national defence; and 
it should be commensurate with, or at least should 
bear some relation to, the extent, the magnitude, 
population, and wealth of the country. 

We need at all times a navy, consisting of suffi- 
cient ships to protect our merchant vessels and our 
seamen in all parts of the world — for our commerce 
now whitens every ocean and every sea ; and to 
cause our flag to be respected by the cruisers of 
other nations, even when it is borne at the masthead 
of a merchant ship. 

If we compare our little army of 12,000 men 
with the 120,000 or 125,000 of Great Britain— with 
the 250,000 or 303,000 of France— and the 500,000 or 
more of Russia — we shall find, after making all prop- 
€1 allowance for the difference in the geographical 



situations of the respective countries, their forms 
of government, and the pursuits, habits, and edu- 
cation of the people, that our present army is not 
too large. 

If we compare our naval force, consisting of but 
sixty-eight ships of war of every description, ia 
commission, in ordinary, and building, with the 
naval force of Great Britain, consisting of five hua- 
dred and ninety-five ships of war of all kinds — with 
that of France, consisting of three hundred anci 
fifty ships of war — or with that of Russia,which is but 
little, if any, inferior to that of France; and recol- 
lect that our foreign tonnage and our commercial 
marine are nearly equal to those of England, and far 
superior to those ot France or Russia, we cannot 
come to any other conclusion than that our navy is, 
to say the least, sufficiently small. 

While, therefore, we do not need so large aa 
army and navy as those nations, our military force 
ought to bear some proportion to theirs, if we in- 
tend to maintain our rank among them as an inde- 
pendent nation, knowing our rights and prepared to 
defend them. 

Entertaining these views, I have, since I first 
had the honor of a seat in Congress, ' voted uni- 
formly and invariably in favor of all the ap- 
propriations required by the Administration 
for the time being, for the support of the army 
and navy, and for the erection of fortifications; 
although the State which I have the honor in 
part to represent on this floor has been most strange- 
ly and unjustly neglected. I shall continue to do 
so, until I shall become satisfied that the sums re- 
quired by the respective departments are larger 
than the wants of the country and our pecuniary 
means will justify. 

In the annual speech of the first President of the 
United States to both Houses of Congress, in De- 
cember, 1793, (for, at the commencement of our 
Government under the Constitution, it was the prac- 
tice for the President to meet both Houses, and ad- 
dress them in person, instead of communicating by 
written message, as at present,) is the following 
patriotic and statesman-like advice. 

I ask the serious attention of the committee to 
what I am now about to read, for my remarks are in- 
tended for their consideration, and not for home con- 
sumption: 

"1 cannot (says he) recommend to your notice measures for 
ttie fulfilmeni of our duties to the rest of the worlil, wiih-mt 
a.ia\n pressing upon you the ne.cessiiy of placing ourselves 
in a condilionof comiilele defence, and of exacting Jrortk 
them the fulfilment of their duties towards tis. The United 



States ought not te indulge a persuasion that, contrary to the 
order of iiiuman events, they will forever keep at a distance 
those painlul appeals to arms with which tlie history of every 
other nation abounds. There is a rank due to the United Siatts 
among nations, which will be withheld, if nol absolutely lost, 
by the repulaficn of weakness. II we desire to avoid insult, 
tee must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace — oni- 
of the most powerful instruments ef our risins prosperiiv— ii 
jriM^i bf knmrn that we are AT ALL TIMES READY 
FOR WAR" 

Theie are the sentiments of one who was justly 
denominated "the Father of his Countrif — of one 
■who, in the funeral oration delivered by Maj. Gen. 
Henry Lee, was pronounced "first in war, first 

JN PEACE, AND FIRST IN THE HEARTS OF HIS COUNTRY- 
MEN." I recollect of reading this speech of the first 
President when I was a boy. It made an impres- 
sion on my mind which can never be eradicated; 
and I trust the time will never come when such ad 
vice from such a source shall be either forgotten or 
disregarded in an American Congress. 

I cannot agree with the gentleman from Virgi- 
nia, [Mr. Gilmer,] that our present military force 
is any larger than would be needed for a permanent 
peace establishment. 

But, sir, admitting, for the sake of argument, that 
our army and navy are a little larger than would 
be needed for a permanent peace establishment: is 
ike present a judicious time to reduce them? — with all 
the numerous questions between us and Great Brit- 
ain, which have repeatedly threatened hostilities, 
and, a few months since, brought us to the very 
brink of a war with that formidable nation, still 
pending. 

To say nothing of the Florida war, which we 
were informed might be considered at an end — al- 
though the honorable delegate from that Territory 
[Mr. Levy] had since read to the House most ap- 
palling accounts of recent murders committed by 
the Indians in that Territory; to say nothing of 
Mexico— for I do not think we have much to fear 
from her in her present condition; — to saj^ nothing 
of these, how can the gentleman say there is not a 
speck of war to be seen in the whole horizon's 
What aspect could our relations with Great Brit- 
ain assume, that would indicate war with her, if he 
sees no indications nowl She has insulted onr flag 
on the high- seas — she has seized and searched our 
ships — she has seized and condemned our fishing 
vessels — she has destroyed our property, imprison- 
ed and murdered our citizens — she has taken mili- 
tary possession of a portion of the territory of one 
of the States of the Unitin — she is now occupying 
our territory with her troops; — and Valtel, Grotius, 
and all other writers on the laws of nations, agree 
that these are just causes of war. Let us not be de- 
ceived or lulled to repose by the syren song ot 
peace, peace; lest we find to our sorrow there is no 
peace. I speak with confideTice when I say, that if 
Great Britain do not make full, ample, and com- 
plete satisfaction for the wrongs and injuries she 
has inflicted upon us, there will inevitably be a u-ar 
between the two countries; or, what is worse, 7ia 
tional disgrace and degradation. 

It is true, that Government has recently sent a 
minister extraordinary and special to the United 
Slates, and, as it is .said, vested with full power to 
settle all matters in controversy between the two 
countries. It is equally true, that none of those 
questions have yet been settled; and it ought to be 
remembered that some of them are of long stand 
•,ng, and of the gravest character which can ever 
iccupy the attention of the United States and Great 
.Britain. 
Lord Ashburton has come to the United States 



ostensibly to negotiate for peace; but whether the 
result will be peaceful or otherwise, will depend or 
the terms on which he proposes to settle the pending 
questions. He has come, it is true, with the olive 
branch in one hand; but he has the sword in the 
other. The one is an emblem of peace — the other 
an instrument of war. He has come to give us our 
choice — peace, on such terms as he may dictate; 
or war, on such terms as we can get. The very 
nanw of the ship which bears him to our shores 
{the Warspi.le) is ominous. He comes in a first-rate 
.specimen of a perfect ship of war, with a full com- 
plement of guns, men, and ammunition; and on en- 
tering one of our harbors, somewhat celebrated in 
the history of the country, it is said there were not 
suflicient men at the fortifications to return the sa- 
lute ♦ired by the British frigate! 

Some of our great seaports have been put in a 
respectable posture of defence, but others are in a 
most exposed and dangerous .situation. In an es- 
pecial manner may this be said of Maine, the Stale 
which I have the honor, in part, to represent on this 
floor. She has a maritime frontier of three hun- 
dred miles in extent, and an inland frontier of six 
or seven hundred miles in extent — making a line 
of exposed frontier of near a thousand miles 
in length. She is the most exposed State of any in 
the Union — surrounded almost entirely by the 
ocean, New Brunswick, and Canada. 

Yet the whole of her maritime frontier has only 
some unfinished fortifications in Portland harbor, 
(Forts Preble and Scammel,) with one company of 
United States artillery, and a small dilapidated fort 
at Easlport, (Fort Sullivan,) where there is another 
company of artillery, with two hundred and fifty 
miles of seacoast, indented with navigable rivers, 
and beautiful' bays and harbors, with an intelligent, 
enterprising, and hardy people occupying their 
banks, lying between these two points, and exposed 
to any naval force that might be sent against them. 

We have at Houlton, on the ea.stern line of the 
State, the Hancock barracks, in a dilapidated con- 
dition, with several companies of artillery; and we 
have one company recently ordered to the Aroos- 
took, and anotherto Fish river: which last compa- 
nies, we are informed by the major general com- 
manding the army, are placed there for police jyiir. 
poses. 

Here, then, is a frontier of near one thousand 
miles in extent, without a permanent and substantial 
fortification on or near the whole line; and the Brit- 
ish actually holding military possession, and hav- 
ing, according to the report of the land agent of 
Maine, four military posts established on our terri- 
tory, with an immense military and naval depot at 
Halifax, within a few hours' sail. 

Boards of officers, consisting of engineers and 
others, have reporteti, from time to time, in favor 
of the erection of fortifications for our defence at 
various points, namely: at Portland harbor, at the 
mouth of the Kennebec, at the narrows on the Pe- 
nobscot, at Calais, Eastport, Machias, Mount Desert 
island, Castine, St. George's bay, Damariscotta, 
Broad bay, Sheepscot bay, at the mouth of Saco 
river, at the mouth of Kenncbunk river, at York, 
and at other places, with a central arsenal at Ban- 
gor. But the works, with the exception of those in 
Portland harbor, (which are unfinished, and I fear 
always will be,) have not yet been commenced; and 
the reports, like every thing else which relates to 
the defence of our State, have been laid aside, and 
forgotten or neglected. At the late extra se.ssion 
there was a little appropriation of $25,000 for the 



erection of a military post at the junction of the 
Mattevvamkeag and Penobscot; but we are inform- 
ed by the War Department that a survey of the site 
has not yet been commenced. 

In addition to our exposed frontier, we have an 
immense amount of property exposed on the ocean. 
We build more tons of shipping than any other 
State in the Union. During the year ending Sep- 
tember 30, 1810 — the last year of wliich we have 
any official accounts — there were built in Maine, 
fitly ships, fifty-six brigs, and seventy-five schoon- 
ers, measuring 38,'J3ij tons; while all the rest of the 
United Slates built but forty-seven ships, fifty -three 
brigs, and three hundred and three schooners, with 
other vessels, measuring, in all, 79,372 tons. 
Maine, therefore, is the first State in the Union in 
regard to the tonnage of ships annually built; and 
actually builds about half as much as all the other 
States put together. She is the second in the ex- 
tent of her fisheries and lumber; the fourth in ton- 
nage owned; the seventh in commercial imports; 
and the eleventh in exports. The State, therefore, 
which is the first in the Union in shipbuilding, the 
second in the extent of her fisheries and lumber, 
the fourth in t6nnage owned, the seventh in im- 
ports, and the eleventh in exports, and which has 
an exposed fronrier of one iliousand miles in ex- 
tent, is left wholly defenceless, with the exception 
of those dilapidated forts, and the few companies of 
artillery stationed within her borders. 

Mr. Chairman, I have spoken of the aspect of 
our relations with Great Britain. Some of the 
most important questions pending between her and 
the United States are the Northeastern boundary; 
the Northern boundary; the Northwestern bounda- 
ry; the encroachments in the Oregon territory; the 
destruction of tlie Caroline and the murder of our 
citizens; the seizure and condemnation of our fish- 
ing vessels; the outrages upon the Comet, Encomi- 
um, Enterprise, Creole, and Hermosa; the seizure 
and search of the ship Seamew, the barques Jones 
and William and Francis, and other merchant 
ships, on the west coast of Africa. 

The honorable gentleman from Massachusetts 
[Mri Cushing] has said that the first was the gra- 
vest question of all. It is so; and I claim the atten- 
tion of the committee while I give a brief histori- 
cal sketch of that controversy — tracing it from the 
treaty of 1783 to the present time — that they may 
see the immense importance of the question in a 
national point of view, and judgeof the probability 
of a settlement, by Lord Ashbiirton, of this great 
question. 

In the second article of the treaty of 1783, the 
Northern boundary of the United States isdescribed 
in these words: "From the northwest angle of No- 
va Scotia, viz: that angle which is formed by a 
line drawn due north from the source of the St. 
Croix river, to the highlands; along the said high- 
lands which divide those rivers that empty them- 
selves into the river St. Lawrence from those which 
fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwestern- 
most head of Connecticut river." The Eastern 
boundary is expressed in these words: "East by a 
line to be drawn along the middle of tine river St. 
Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy, to its 
source; and from its source directly north to the 
aforesaid highlands, which divide the rivers which 
flow into the Atlantic ocean from those which fall 
into the river St. Lawrence." 

It appears that the river St. Croix derived its 
name from the cross which had been erected by the 
first settlers on its banks, who are understood to 



have been French Catholics. There are two rivers 
which have their mouths in the Bay of Fundy, and 
which were known at different times by the name 
of St. Croix. There had been a settlement on each 
of them, and crosses had been erected on the .banks 
of each. Hence some uncertainly arose as tc which 
of these rivers was the one intended by the treaty 
ofl7S3. The Americans contended tliat the Ma- 
gaguadavic, and the English that the Scoudiac, was 
the river intended by the treaty. 

To settle this question, it was provided in the 
fifth article of the treaty of 1704, commonly called 
"Jay's treaty," that commissioners should be ap- 
pointed by the two Governments. In pursu- 
ance of which, commissioners were appointed 
a few years afier, and in 1798 proceeded to dis- 
charge the duly assigned them. They decided that 
the Scoudiac was the river intended by the treaty, 
and that the northern branch, called "Chaputnati-- 
cook,"' was the true source of the river. They, 
therefore, proceeded to establish the boundary-line 
from the mouth of that river in the Bay of Fundy, 
along the middle of the river, to its source. They 
then commenced the due-north line at the source of 
the river, and marked a yellow birch tree by the 
line, which they encircled with iron hoops, and 
which has been known by the name of the "Monu- 
ment" from that time to the present. The commis- 
sioners then made reports to their respective Gov- 
ernments, which were duly accepted; and thus all 
diflaculties seemed to be amicably and fairly settled. 

There can be no doubt that the decision was 
wrong, as subsequent developments have shown; 
but it was a fair decision, and made in accordance 
with the weight of such evidence as the commis- 
sioners had before them. It has since been proved, 
and admitted, that the map which the commission- 
ers who formed the treaty of 1783 had before them, 
was what is known by the name of Miichell's map. 
The copy used by them has been obtained, and the 
river which we claimed as the St. Croix is marked 
upon it as the "R. St. Croix " The due-north line 
is there marked from that river; and the one since 
erroneously decided to be the St. Croix is on that; 
map called the "Passamacadie R." Although the 
decision was against us, and has since been proved 
to be wrong, yet we felt bound to abide by it. 

Here, then, the only difficulty that ever oughtto 
have arisen in connexion with the boundary was 
amicably adjusted; and all that remained to be done 
was to run and mark the meridian line from the 
monument to the highlands which divide the rivers 
which flow into the Atlantic ocean from those which 
fall into the river St. Lawrence, and thence along 
the highlands to the northwesternmost head of Con- 
necticut river. But it was not done. 

Mr. Chairman, the language used in the descrip- 
tion of those boundaries is so plain, that it seems 
scarcely possible for honest and honorable men to 
differ in their construction of it. If such language 
were used in a deed of conveyance, describing the 
line between yourself and your neighbor, sure I 
arn that no lawsuit would be necessary to determine 
your respective rights. You would call your sur- 
veyor, run the line, erect your monuments, and 
continue to live as good neighbors. 

The first intimation we have of any claim on the 
part of the British to the territory now most unjust- 
ly brought into dispute, was given sixteen years 
after. 

At the formation of the treaty of Ghent, in IBM, 
the British commissioners propo.sed to ours "such a 
variation of the line oj frontier as may secure a direct 



6 



communication between Quebec and Halifax.''^ Our 
commissioners replied that "tkey had no authority 
to cede any part of the territory of the United Stales, 
and to no stipulation to that efffct would they subscribe.'' 
The Britisli commissioners rejoined, that "the pro- 
posal left it open to them (the American commission- 
ers) to demand an cqviralent for such cession, either 
in frontier or otherwise." 

They then insinuate, for the first time, that any 
floubt existed as to our title. They say, "the Amer- 
ican commissioners must be aware that the bounda- 
ry of the district of Maine has never been correctly 
ascertained; that the one asserted at present by the 
American Government, by which the direct commu- 
nication between Halifax and Quebec becomes inter- 
rupted, was not in contemplation of the British 
plenipotentiaries who concluded the treaty of 1783; 
and that the greater part of the territory in ques- 
tion is actually unoccupie'd." 

This faint pretension of any claim on the part of 
the British was repelled by our commissioners. 
But they proceeded to insert an article in the treaty 
they were then framing, for ascertainingand mar king 
the l.S e. And the 5th article of the treaty of Ghent 
provides for the appointment of commissioners by the 
Cwo Governments, to survey the boundary-line; and 
in the event of a disagreement between the commis- 
sioners, it provides a submission of the matter in 
controversy to some friendly sovereign or state for 
arbitration. 

Commissioners were appointed; but, as might 
have been expected after the failure to obtain a 
cession from the United States commissioners at 
Ghent, they were unable to agree. They could not 
agree as to v.'hat point was the northwest angle of 
INova Scotia — which of two ranges of highlands 
were the highlands mentioned in the treaty of 
1783 — what point was the 45th parallel of latitude — 
nor what point was the northwesternmost head of 
Connecticut river. The event had occurred, there- 
I'ore, in which our Government was bound, by the 
treaty of Ghent, to submit these questions to some 
friendly sovereign or state; and accordingly, on 
the 29th of September, 1827, a convention was en- 
tered into by the two Governments, specifying the 
terms and conditions on which the matters were to 
fce :submitted; and they afterwards selected "Wil- 
liam I., King of the Netherlands," as the friendly 
sovereign or state to decide the questions. . He 
was, at the time of his selection. King of the Nether- 
lands; but, after contending against a successful 
rebellion of his own subjects; after being stripped 
of a portion of his dominions, (Belgium,) and ren- 
dered dependent on England for the remainder — 
therebv becoming, in fact, only King of Hntland — 
a. different sovereign and state, and ceasing to be 
independent — he, in 1830, for the first time, f lund 
leisure to hear the parties on the matters submitted 
to the "King of the Netherlands " 

Our Government had, in the mean time, appoint- 
ed Judge Preble, a disj^Phguished citizen of Maine, 
as minister to that court, with a view to the con- 
ducting of the cause before the arbiter. 

After hearing all the proofs and arguments, the 
arbiter, on the 10th of January, 1831, made his 
award on the question of the northwesternmost 
liead of Connecticut river, namely: That the source 
of the stream running into and through the Con- 
necticut lake, is the true northwest head of that 
liver; and he srave his advice as to the settlement 
of the other questions, which he declared his own 
inability to decide. He recommended, as a conve- 
nient boundary, a line which should run from the 



monument due north to the St. John's river, and 
thence should follow the deepest channel {thalweg) 
of said river to the river St. Francis; and thence 
the deepest channel of the St. Francis to its south- 
westernmost source; thence, along the highlands, 
to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river. 

The American minister protested, in the name 
and behalf of his Governiuent, against this pre- 
tended award or decision; and then returned to the 
United States. As soon as the fact became known 
to the Legislature of Maine, they, also, protested 
against its acceptance, as they had previously done 
against the submission. 

The President laid the award before the Senate, 
early in the session of 1831-2, for their determina- 
tion, whether they would advise a submission to the 
opinion delivered by the sovereign arbiter, and 
consent to its execution. The Senate, after much 
consideration, determined to advise the President 
to communicate to the British Government that the 
United States decline to "adopt the boundary recom- 
mended by his Majesty the King of the Nether- 
lands, as being suitable, between the dominions of 
his Britannic Majesty and the United States; be- 
cause, in the opinion of the Senate, the King of the 
Netherlands has not decided the question submit- 
ted to him touching thp northern and northeastern 
boundary of the United States." And ihcy pro- 
ceeded to advise the President to open a new nego- 
tiation for the ascertainment of the boundary-line. 

The award was also subsequently rejected by the 
British Government. 

I shall not stop to argue the question of our title. 
It is suflicient for us that the United States Govern- 
ment, through its President and both branches of 
Congress, have repeatedly declared their perfect 
conviction of the justice and validity of the title of 
the United States to the full extent of all the terri- 
tory in dispute between the two powers. 

The President was advised to open a new nego- 
tiation, and he did so; and repeated efforts have 
since been made by our Government, at various 
times, to bring the controversy to an amicable con- 
clusion; but without success. 

In January, 1839, it was ascertained that about 
300 armed men from the British province of New 
Brunswick were committing depredations upon the 
territory on the Aroostook and Fish rivers in 
Maine ; that they were cutting down destroying, 
and carrying away the valuable forest trees. 

Information having been communicated to the 
Legislature of Maine, they authorized the Governor 
to send the land agent with a suitable civil posse to 
disperse the trespassers, and break up their works. 
The Governor accordingly despatched the land 
agent and a small civil posse to attend to that ser- 
vice. On arriving in the vicinity, the land agent, 
having invited the land agent of New Brun wick to 
meet him at a house about four miles from the place 
where our company was stationed, went there with 
four others, intending to spend the night. The Brit- 
ish land agent did not make his appearance; but, 
during the night, the house was surrounded by 
about fifty armed men, who seized our agent and the 
persons whp were with him in the house, and con- 
veyed Ihem to Frederickton, where they were ixn.- 
prisoned by orders of the provincial rhagistrates. 
The next day the British land agent and his assist- 
ant were seized by our men, and conveyed to Ban- 
gor, where they were furnished with superb rooms 
at the Bangor house, and held as hostr;ges for the 
restoration of our land agent and his assistants.. 
Sir John Harvey, the Lieutenant Governor of New 



Brunswick, then issued a proclamation for the mili- 
tary to hold themselves in readiness; and sent a 
threatening letter to Governor Fairfield, under date 
of February 13, 1839, of which the following are ex- 
tracts : 

"Sir: I have just heard, with the utmost surprise and regret, 
that, without the courtesy of any previnua intimation whatever 
to this Government, an armed force from theiitate of Maine has 
entered the territory, thn claim lo which is in dispute between 
Great Britain and tiie United States, and which, it has been 
agreed between the two General Governments, shall remain in 
the exclusive possession and jurisdiction of England until that 
claim shall be deiermined. 

"Such, nevertheless, is the position in which I find myscll 
placed by this overt act on the part of the State of Maine— one 
from which I do not hesitate in entreating your Excellency to 
relieve me, by ordering the immediate recall of a force whose 
presence within the precincts of the territory, as claimed by 
England, it is contrary to my instructions to permit ; and it is 
proper thatl should acquaint your Excellency that I have di- 
rected astron?forceof her Majesty's troops to be in readiness to 
support her Majesty's authority, and protect her Majesty's sub- 
jects in the disputed territory, in tlie event of this request not 
being immediately complied with." 

Governor Fairfield replied to this letter under 
date of February 19, 1839 ; and, after quoting the 
first paragraph, he says: 

'■In reply, I can but regret that your Excellency should have 
thought thi3 use of such language suitable to be employed upon 
this occasion. If I am amenable to a charge of want of "cour- 
tesy" in anything I have heretofoic done, I will endeavor to 
manifest enough ol that accomplishment io this leply, not to 
bandy epithet.^ with one of whom I had formed so high an opin- 
ion as of your Excellency ; and I will only say, further, that 
while I have the honor to hold the place I now occupy, I trust 
that a sense of duty to my State and her interests will always 
predoiTiinaie over a mere blind regard to the artificial rules of 
etiquette. I think, however, that your Excellency would not 
have used that term, if you had considered, for a mon-eni, thai 
the proceedings of our land agent were in execution of a resolve 
of the Legislature ol this State, adopted in secret session; and 
that no notice of these proceedings could have been given, with- 
out an unqualified breach of laiLh and duly." 

In reply to the threat contained in the letter, he 
says: 

"The party of the land agent is now on the territory, eneaaed 
inexecuting the trust with whirh it was charged; and, with my 
consent, will never leave it, while the protection of the proper- 
ty of the State from plunderer.s renders it necessary for theni to 
remain. If your Excellency chooses to send an armed force 
to attempt their expulsion, I can only say that this State will 
endeavor to meet such an attempt as it will deserve. I have no 
threats to make or boastings to indulge. If Maine does her 
duty, as I trust in God she will, nothing tli.it I could say in ad- 
' Vance would add to the glory of her career. If she proves re- 
creant to h' r duty, and tamely submits to lie expelled from her 
territory by a force that she could successfully resist, nothing 
that I can say would tend to diminish the measure of her igno- 
miny and. disgrace." 

A detachment of 10,000 of the Maine militia was 
ordered out to repel the threatened invasion. A 
part of this force proceeded to the places where the 
trespassers were committing iheir depredations- 
most of whom fled at the approach of our people; 
the others were arrested, and their works broken 
up. 

The General Government having been called on, 
under the provision of the Constitution, to protect 
each State against invasion, despatched Major Gen- 
eral Scott to M.ine, to effect some arrangement by 
which hostilities should be prevented. 

Through his mediation, an agreement was effect- 
ed, in which Sir John Harvey stipulated that he 
would not, without renewed instructions to that 
effect from his Government, seek to take military 
possession of that territory, or endeavor, by military 
force, to expel therefrom the armed civil posse, or 
the troops of Maine. And Governor Fairfield stip- 
ulated that he would not, without renewed in- 
structions from the Legislature of the State, attempt 
to disturb, by arms, the said province in the posses- 



sion of the Madawaska settlements; or attempt to in- 
terrupt the usual communications between that 
province and her Majesty's upper provinces. 

With this understanding, Governor Fairfield 
agreed to withdraw the military force of the State 
from the disputed territory; leaving only, under a 
land agent, a small civil posse, armed or unarmed, 
to protect the timber recently cut, and to prevent 
future depredations. 

In puisuance of this agreement, the troops on 
both sides were withdrawn; and the land agent, and 
armed civil posse of Maine, remained on the terri- 
tory according to the agreement. 

Shortly after, the British land agent, with a party 
of men, ascended the St. John for the purpose of 
driving timber and logs, then within the jurisdic- 
tion of Maine, down the river within the New 
Brunswick line; when he was informed, by our as- 
sistant land agent, that his instructions were such 
that he could not admit of the timber being removed 
from the territory; whereupon the British land 
agent withdrew and abandoned the enterprise. 

This act of Captain Nye, the assistant land agent, 
in preventing Col. Maclauchlan, the British land 
agent, from seizing the timber and driving it be- 
yond the jurisdiction of the State, was complained 
of by the Lieutenant Governor, in a letter to Gen. 
Scott, in which he says that, rather than incur the 
risk of collision, he had instructed their land agent 
"io withdraio wilkin the settlement." He had no right, 
under the agreement, to exercise any jurisdiction 
beyond "the settlement" and Capt. Nye was clearly 
in the line of his duty in protecting the property 
against any interference on the part of British au- 
thorities. Our civil posse, armed or unarmed, as 
we might choose, was to remain on the territory 
for the express purpose of protecting the timber 
then recently cut, and of preventing future depreda- 
tions; and, on our part, we had agreed not to dis- 
turb, by arms, "the Madawaska settlements.'" 

The agreement, on our part, was kept in good 
faith; but it was broken by the British. 

In the following summer and fall, the British 
authorities commenced erecting fortifications; and, 
in fact, took military possession of a portion of the 
territory north of the St. John and the St. Francis. 
They erected barracks on the south side of the 
St. John, opposite Madawaska river. Two and 
a half miles below the fort of Tamiscouata lake, 
on the west bank of the Madawaska, they erected 
other barracks. On the west shore of Tamiscouata 
lake, about fifteen miles from its foot, they erected 
eight buildings, consisting of barracks for soldiers, 
quarters for officers, an hospital, magazine, store- 
house, commissary's house, boat-house, boats, &c. 
They surrounded the whole by ditches, breast- 
works, and stockades. They are permanent works, 
and such as would be a sure defence against artil- 
lery and light arms, and arc now occupied by Brit- 
ish troops. 

Our Government complained to Mr. Fox, the 
British minister, of these encroachments, in viola- 
tion of the agreement between the parties. Mr. 
Fox, in his letter to Mr. Forsyth, Secretary of 
State, of January 26, 1840, denied, in substance, that 
any such encroachments had been committed. 

On the 6th of March following, Mr. Forsyth 
wrote again to Mr. Fox, by direction of the Presi- 
dent, enclosing a copy of a report made to the 
Governor of Maine by Benjamin Wiggin, the 
agent appointed to ascertain the precise character 
and extent of the occupation of parts of the dis- 
puted territory by British troops, and of the build- 



8 



ings and other public works constructed for their 
use and accommodation. Mr. Forsyth says: 

"By that report, and the three depositions which the under- 
signed informally communicaied tolMr. Fox, a few days sinre, 
he will perceive that there must be some extraordinary mis- 
apprehension, on his part, of the facts in relation to the occupa- 
tion, by British troops, of portions ofthe disputed territory. The 
statements contained in these documents, and that given by Mr. 
Fox, in his note of the 26th of January last, exhibit a striking 
discrepancy as to the number of troops now in the territory, 
as compared With those who were in it when the arransement 
between Governor Fairfield and Lieutenant Governor Harvey 
was agreed upon; and also as to the present and former state 
of the buildings there. The extensive accommodations pre- 
pared and preparing at an old and at new stations — the works 
finished, and in the course of construction, on the land and on 
the water — are not in harmony with the assurance that the only 
object is the preservation of a few unimportant buiMings and 
storehouses, for the temporary protection of the number of 
troops her Majesty's ordinary service can require to pass on 
the road from New Brunswick to Canada. 

"The undeisigned will abstain from any remarks upon these 
contradictory statements, until Mr. Fox shall have had an op- 
portunity to obtain the means of fully explaining them. How 
essential it is that this should be promptly done, and that the 
steps necessary to a faithful observance, on the part of her 
Majesty's colonial authorities, of the existing agreements be- 
tween the two Governments should be immediately taken, Mr- 
Fox cannot fail fully to understand." 

On the following day Mi-. Fox returned an an- 
swer to Mr. Forsyth's letter, in which, among other 
things, he says that 

" A detachment of her Majesty's troops has been stationed at 
the L:ike Temiscouata, from time to time, ever since the winter 
of 1837-'38, when the necessity arose from marching reinforce- 
ments by that route from New Brunswick to Canada; and it 
will be remembered that a temporary right of using that route 
for the same purpose was expressly reserved to Great Britain 
in the provisional agreement entered into at the beginning of 
last year. 

" It is not, therefore, true (he continues) that the stationing 
of a military force at the Lake Temiscouata is a new measure 
on the part of her Majesty's authorities; neither i.s it true that 
that measure has been adopted for other purposes than to 
maintain the security of the customary line of communication, 
and to protect the buildings, stores, and accommodations pro- 
vided for the use of her Majesty's troops when on march by 
that route," &:c. 

With regard, again, to the construction of bar- 
racks and other buildings, and the preserving them 
in an efficient state of repair and defence, (he says,) 
a similar degree of error and misapprehension 
appears still to prevail in the minds of the Ameri- 
can authorities. 

He adds : 

"The erection of those buildings within the portion of the 
disputed territory now referred to, for the shelter of het Majes- 
ty's troops while on their march, and for the safe lodgment of 
the stores, is no new act on the part of her Majesty's authori- 
ties. The buildings in question have been in the course of 
construction from a period antecedent to the provisional agree- 
ment of last year; and they are now maintained and occupied 
along the line of march, with a view to the same objects above 
specified, for which the small detachments of troops also re- 
ferred to are, in like manner, there stationed." 

The report of Mr. Wiggin, appointed by the 
Governor of Maine, on the 6th of February, 1840, 
referred to in Mr. Forsyth's letter, is dated the 27th 
of the same month. It is accompanied by a plan 
of the British military postal the head of Tamis- 
couata lake; and is as follows: 

To his Excellency the Ho7i. John Fairfield, Governor of 
Maine : 

The undersigned has the honor to report,lhat, in accordance 
with your commision ofthe 6th inst., he proceeded immedi 
ately to the St. John river, Temiscouata lake, &c. and ascer- 
tained, by actual observation, the following facts: 

Thai twenty-two miles below the mouth of Fish river, on the 
south side of the St. John, and nearly opposite the Mada- 
waska river, a house has been fitted up for barracks, and is 
rented by the English Government for that purpose, though no 
troops are there at present; but it is built of hewn timber, two 
stories high, about sixty feet long and thirty wide; it has bunks 
prepared now d^r one hundred men; \l is now in charse of one 
man only. From thence he followed up the Madawaska river, 
observiiig the (ow-path on its east bank, which has been made 



and repaired by the English Government, under contracts giveE 
cut by James A. Maclauchlan, esq. of New Br.unswick, the 
gentlemen who has heretofore assumed to act as warden of the 
disputed territory. This work was accomplished the past sea- 
son. The lengtli corresponds with that of the east side of the 
Madawaska river, which is about twenty-six miles long. 

Two miles and a half below the foot of the Temiscouata lake, 
on the west bank of the Madawaska river, the English erected, 
early last summer, a barrack, about eighty feet long and thirty 
wide, and two small out-buildings. At this post there are now 
stationed one sergeant, one corporal, and five private soldiers, 
of company No. -3, llth regiment, in the English service, 
where they have been since about the 1st of January last. Near 
this point commences a road, connecting it with the English 
works next described, built the past season, under contracts 
given out by said Maclauchlan, for the distance of sixteen miles, 
ten of which are fully completed, and the remaining six nearly. 
That fifteen miles from the foot of Temiscouata lake, on its west 
side, the English have erected eight buildings as barracks for 
soldiers, officers' quarters, an hospital, a magazine, a store- 
liouse, and a commissary's house — all of which are surrounded 
by ditches, breastworks, and stockades on three sides; the fourth 
is not fully completed. An accurate plan of all these works 
accompanies this report, and is here particularly referred to. 

From Major Chambri, the commander at this fort, who 
was first infoimed of the object ami cause ofthe inquiries, and 
from his officers, the following facts were ascertained: 

That he was there stationed by the Government ofthe Cana- 
da?, having under his command one company of grenadier 
soldiers, numbering about eighty-five men, ofthe llth regiment, 
and one light-company (theSd) of same regiment, numbering 
about ninety men — in all, one hundred and seventy-five, not in- 
cluding officers commissioned or servants. The names of the 
officersare, Major Chambri, Captain Wallingtou, Lieutenants 
Bloss and Gould, and Ensign Tobun. That the barracks were 
commenced last spring, and some of the buildings are still un- 
finished. That the first soldiers were stationed herein June last, 
comprising a sergeant, corporal, and ten men of the 24th regi- 
ment; and in November following, said company of grenadiers 
were ordered to take their place ; and that abwut the 1st of Jan- 
uary last they were reinforced by said 3d coinpany. That 
the road from these barracks to the river DesLoups has been 
made and repaired the past aeason — distance about thirty-six 
miles. 

In addition, the undersigned ascertained that the English have 
built at lake Temiscouata a number of large flat-bottomed boats, 
and also keel-boats, each of which will serve to carry fifty 
men, and the flat bottorned boa's would trans|)ort safely heavy 
ordnance. Outside the defences the English have a boathouse 
and storehouse. 

The works at this fort are calculated to be a sure defence 
against artillery and light-amis, as will more fully appear 
from the plan annexed. 

All of which is most respectfully submitted. 

BENJAMIN WIGGIN. 

Adgusta, Me., February 27, 1840. 

Phineas Varnum, a citizen of Maine, on the llth 
of the same month, gives the following testimony, 
in the form of a deposition by him subscribed and 
sworn to: 

Augusta, February U, 1840. 

Having just returned from Temiscouata lake, where I have 
been on private business, and being requested by the^avernor 
to communicate such facts as have fallen under^my observa- 
tion while there, I depose and say: That the pro,vincial author- 
ities have, the past season, erected extensive military works at 
the head of the lake, and others near the foot of the lake, be- 
side the Madawaska river, that are just completed. The erec- 
tions at this last station consist of barracks, siiffidjpt for some 
four hundred men, and a storehouse, in charge.of eight men. 
At the head of the lake there are some eight or ten buildings 
(two of which are large) two stories high, and furnishing quar- 
ters for some four to six hundred men. A stockade of timbers, 
to enclose these works, has been commenced; two or three hun- 
dred fest of which, as I should judge, have been completed. A 
road, connecting these posts, has been constructed the past sea- 
son, a distance of about sixteen miles. I was at the stations 
above referred to in May last. At the post at the foot of the 
lake there were then no barracks and no men; at the other there 
were some French laborers, just commencing the post, but no 
soldiers had then arrived; but now about two hundred soldiers, 
as I was informed while there, (and I should judge there wais 
that number from the appearance of the camp,) are stationed 
at this place, under the command of Major Chambri. 

PHINEAS VARNUM. 

Thomas Bartlett and Mark Little, citizens of 
Maine, also testify, in substance, to the same things. 

The facts being established by the testimony of 
American citizens, after a personal view and ex- 
amination on the spot of the roads, barracks, for- 



tifications, buildings, gim-boats, transports, and 
troops, we are drawn irresistibly to the conclusion 
that the British minister had been misinformed on 
the subject; and that there had been, not only an in- 
vasio?i of our territory, as secured by the treaty of 
1783, but a most gross violation of the agreement 
of the parties made in March, 1839. 

The fact that the troops were stationed at Tamis 
couata lake by the Government of the Canadas, in- 
stead of New Brunswick, furnishes no excuse to the 
British Government, who, of course, control all mili- 
tary movements, as well in the Canadas as in New 
Brunswick. It only evinces a desire to escape the 
odium of the act, by shifting the responsibility on to 
another agent. It also adds another to the long list 
of outrages and absurdities by an attempt to claim, 
as a part of the Canadas, what they had the prece- 
ding year claimed as a part of Neio Brunswick. In 
the fall of the same year, additional troops were 
also ordered by the Governor General of the Brit- 
ish provinces to the Madawaska settlements; 
against which the authorities of Maine remon- 
strated both to the General and British Govern- 
ments. 

A renewed eflbrt was now made on the part of 
our Government to effect a settlement of the ques 
tion; and the outlines of an agreement for the ap 
pointment of commissioners, and, in the event of 
their disagreement, the selection of an umpire to 
make a final settlement of the matter, were fixed 
upon; but the two Governments have not yet been 
able to agree on the details of the convention. In 
the mean time, the British Government, with a view 
ostensibly to obtain such information as would en- 
able them to judge correctly of the justice or injus- 
tice of their claim, appointed Messrs. Featherston- 
haugh and Mudge as commissioners to make a 
topographical survey of the territory. 

Having proceeded to the territory, and entered 
upon their duties, they soon discovered that the 
highlands described in the treaty of 1783, instead of 
dividing "the rivers which empty themselves into 
the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the 
Atlantic ocean," in reality divide two of the last- 
mentioned rivers, to wit: the St. John and the Pe- 
nobscot— that the line which is described in the 
treaty as running from the source of the river St. 
Croix directli/ north to the highlands, should have 
been directly northwest— thax the northwest angle of 
Nova Scotia, instead of being where it is described 
in the treaty, is to be found on the side of a contin- 
uous line, and is, in reality, no angle of Nova 
Scotia — that the commissioners in 1793 had not 
found the true source of the river which they had 
determined was the St. Croix; but that its true 
source was the Scoudlac lakes, near the mouth of 
the river. Thev found some hills in a westerly di- 
rection from Mars Hill, where their Government 
contend the highlands of the treaty are; and very 
strong indications that there had, at one time, been a 
continuous range of highlands in that direction; but 
that they had disappeared by abrasion, and the 
place where they had been located had now become 
so low and level, that a company, incorporated by 
the Legislature of New Brunswick in 1836, called 
the "St. Andrew's and auebec Railroad Company," 
had actually projected a railroad, to run from St. 
Andrew's to Q,uebec over the same ground which, 
in 1783, was covered by the highlands described in 
the treaty I 

Such, I believe, is a fair statement of a few of 
the inconsistencies and absurdities contained in the 



report which they afterwards made to their own 
Government. 

The Government of the United States have since 
appointed commissioners, (Messrs. Renwick, Gra- 
ham, and Talcot,) who have been engaged during 
the two summers last past in a thorough explora- 
tion and scientific survey of the territory, and in 
running the meridian line. Their labors are not 
yet completed; and, of course, their final report has 
not yet been made. But I have reason to know 
that, while they have found nothing to weaken our 
title to the M^hole extent of the territory in dispute, 
they have found much which is calculated to show 
conclusively the unfounded character of the claim 
set up by the British. 

On the part of Great Britain, it has been con- 
tended that the St. John was not an Atlantic river, 
because it did not, in the language of the treaty, 
"fall into the Atlantic ocean," biU fell into the Bay 
of Fundy. It is true, the St. John does empty 
itself into the Atlantic ^ArowgA the Bay of Fundy. 
But that bay is a part of the Atlantic; and it may, 
with equal propriety, be argued that the Penobscot 
is not an Atlantic river, because it first falls into 
Penobscot Bay; or that the Kennebec is not an At- 
lantic river, because it first falls into the Bay of 
Sagadahock; or that the Connecticut is not an At- 
lantic river, because it first falls into Long Island 
sound. 

Such, sir, is a brief sketch of the origin and his- 
tory of the British claim, which had so small a be- 
ginning twenty-eight years ago — which begun in a 
proposition for "such a variation of the line of 
frontier as might secure a direct communication 
between Cluebec and Halifax;" and, as a consider- 
ation for which, they were willing to give "an 
equivalent in frontier, or oiherwise." It has now 
become a bold cmd impudent demand upon the United 
S\.n.les i'or a third part of one of the largest Stales in 
the Union. Such are some of the outrages, injuries, 
and insults to which we have been subjected by that 
Government, in the assertion and prosecution of an 
unjust and baseless claim. Such are some of the in- 
consistencies and absurdities by which they have 
attempted to support that claim. 

It is, I fear, one of the misfortunes the people of 
Maine labor under, that our State is located in the 
extreme east. Our very existence seems, at times, 
to be either unknown or forgotten. Intelligent men, 
residing in other parts of the country, have so im- 
perfect a knowledge of the extent and value of the 
territory most unjustly claimed by Great Britain, 
that I have been frequently asked how wide and 
how long the strip of land "in dispute is; how many 
acres it c'ontains; whether there is any timber on it; 
and if, every thing considered, it be worth disputing 
about. And, sir, even members of Congress have 
been startled when I have told them that the terri- 
tory in dispute is sufficiently large to make two or 
three States of the Union— that it is about as 
large as Massachusetts and Connecticut put to- 
gether, and larger than several of the small States 
united ; that it has some of the richest soil in New 
England; is situated in a healthy climate; is watered 
by "numerous rivers; and covered, for the most part, 
with a valuable forest of timber trees. But, great 
as its pecuniary value is, its national importance is 
entitled to still graver consideration. 

Mr. L. here exhibited a copy of the official map 
A, which was, by agreement of the two Govern- 
ments, used before the arbiter in 1831; and pointed 
out the lines claimed by the respective parties, and 
that recommended by the Dutch King, with the 



V 



10 



rivers and other localities necessary to a correct un- 

derstanding of the question. 

A glance at the map, sir, (said Mr. L.)will show 
that the claim set up by Great Britain embraces 
about one-third pan of the whole State of Maine; 
that the territory now claimed extends northerly 
between Ntw Brunswick and Canada; and must, 
during a portion of the year, intercept the commu- 
nication between those provinces. 

Its great value to England is in a military point of 
view, in order to maintain a direct communication, 
at all times, between the important posts in her prov- 
inces. A suitable military establishment, located in 
the northern part of the territory, would make their 
line of posts complete at all times, and would enable 
them to bring the whole military force of the prov- 
inces into action, at any required point, with short 
notice. On the contrary, this territory being in the 
possession of their adversary, suitable military 
works would enable him, with a small numerical 
military force, to check and control the action of a 
large army divided between the provinces. It re- 
quires no military skill to discover the disadvantage 
they would labor under, and the manner in which 
their movements would be counteracted by a small 
military force in possession of this territory, with 
their line of communication between their provinces 
broken up. England, therefore, needs this territory, 
or so much of it as will give her a direct communi- 
cation between the provinces, to increase her na- 
tional strength. She needs it to strengthen her arm 
against the Unit.ed Slates, and against no other nation 
U7ider Heaven. She requires the territory to 
strengthen her against us. If it be important, there- 
fore, for her to obtain it, is it not equally important 
to us that she should not have it 1 If the possession 
of it will strengthen her, will it not weaken us ? Will 
not the cession of it to England weaken us in a two- 
fold proportion — first, in thcloss of t/u: important po- 
sition, as a means of defence; and, secondly, in the 
additional strength and security it will give our ene- 
my? I submit, therefore, to the judgment of the com- 
mittee, whether the United States ought ever to part 
with the territory, even with the consent of Maine, 
in case her consent should be obtained 1 

Here, then, is a question which has been pending 
for twenty-eight years; and, during that time, all 
the distinguished men at the heads of the respective 
Governmenls have been striving to effect an ami- 
cable settlement of it, without success: a question 
in relation to a matter of great national importance 
— one that has engaged the attention of the great- 
est statesmen of the two countries for more than a 
quarter of a century, respecting which the two na- 
tions have several times been on the brink of a war. 
Lord Ashburton is to remain here, as we have 
been told, but a few months. The ship in which 
he came out, and in which he is to return, will be 
at New York in a few days, to await his departure. 
Under these circumstances, the settlement of the 
long-pending question, in the short time he is to 
remain here, is, to .say the least, very problematical. 

But the gentleman from Virginia'[Mr. Gilmek] 
says the Legislature of Maine have appointed 
commissioners to visit "Washington, and treat with 
the special minister for a new line, and the whole 
dispute will be settled in a few days. I sincerely 
hope it may be; but on what terms can it be so 
speedily adjustedl For, let me inform the commit- 
tee, these commissioners are not sent here to sell 
any portion of the territory of Maine; they are to 
agree to nothing, except what may be "consistent 
with the honor and interests of the Slate, having re- 



gard to the line designated by the treaty of 1783." 

As a citizen of Maine, sir, and one of her Rep- 
resentatives on this floor, I do not hesitate to say 
that, in my opinion, a proposition by Great Britain 
to give a. pecuniary consideration for any portion of 
the territory, would be regarded by that State as an 
insult, and would be rejected with scorn. 1 hazard 
nothing when I say that any proposition to divide 
the territory, most unjustly brought into dispute, 
would be instantly rejected by our commissioners. 

If Maine consents to the establishment of a new 
line, it must be one equally advantageous to her as 
the line of 1783. If she consents to part with any 
of her territory, it must be in a mutual exchange 
for the mutual benefit of the parties. If she parts 
with territory, she must receive territory of equal 
value. If she parts with what is American, she 
must receive what is British. If she grants a right 
of way across her territory, she must receive aright 
of navigation in the St. John. If she grants a 
privilege to Britain, she rausl receive a privilege in 
return, of equal value. Such, sir, are the terms on 
which an adjustment, perhaps, might be made con- 
sistent with the honor and interests of Maine. 

But there is another view of the subject — one 
that touches very cl sely our national honor. Our 
title to the whole territory is beyond all fair and 
just controversy. The Biitish Government, in 
violation of a solemn treaty, and of a subsequent 
recent agreement, have taken possession of a por- 
tion of it, and have erected military po>ts upon it, 
which are now manned by a large body of soldiers. 
Can the United States Government, consistently 
with its own honor, consent to treat with Great 
Britain for a new line, until our soil shall have 
been purged of every vestige of her encroachmentl 
Has Great Britain sent her minister to iiegotiate 
with us in presence of British bayonets and British 
cannon? This is her mode of negotiation in India, 
in China, and some other countries: but it is not 
becoming the free, brave, and enlightened citizens 
of the United States. Let her remove her troops 
from our soil, if she really desires a fair and 
honorable termination of the controversy, in which 
neither parly shall degrade itself. If she will not 
remove them, they ought to be expelled, at all haz- 
ards, and whatever may be the consequences. 

Mr. Chairman: I find I have consumed so much 
time on this important topic, that I shall be able to do 
little more than glance at the remaining subjects in 
controversy between the two countries. 

The seizure of American fishing vessels in the 
Bay of Fundy, and their condemnation in the Brit- 
ish court of vice-admiralty at Halifax, for alleged 
violations of the convention of October 20, 1818, 
and a law of the province of Nova Scotia, passed 
in 1836, entitled William IV, chap. 8, was brought 
to the attention of Congress by a resolution I had 
the honor to introduce in the House on the 23d of 
March, 1840. The information procured by the 
resolution will be found in House Doc. 186, 1st 
sess. 26th Cong. 

Among the fishing vessels so seized and con- 
demned were the schooners Magnolia, Indepen- 
dence, Java and Hart, Battelle, Hyder Ally. Hero, 
Combine, Papineau, and Mary. The fishing 
grounds are fifteen ortwenty miles from the British 
shore, exposed in the open sea; and the vessels are 
frequently obliged to runinto the nearest harbors on 
the coast, to seek shelter from the storm, repair dam- 
ages, purchase wood, and obtain water. That is a 
privilege secured to our fishermen by the conven- 
tion ; but they have no right to take, dry, or cure 



11 



fish ill their bays or harbors, or within three miles 
of the British shore. Tliese vessels, as will ap- 
pear by the testimony, were not guilty of any viola- 
tion of the treaty, and had entered their harbors on- 
ly for some of the purposes before named ; yet they 
were seized by British armed vessels in the employ 
of the Government, the men turned on shore, the 
vessels stripped of their cargoes, provisions, sails, 
and rigging, and condemned in the court of vice- 
admiralty at Halifax. 

These vessels were engaged in the cod fishery — 
fishing for bounty — owned and manned by Ameri- 
can citizens. Such are the conditions on which 
the owner can have a trial in that court, that a ves- 
sel once seized is wholly lost. 

By the 10th section of that act, it is provided 
"that no person shall be admitted to enter a claim 
to anything seized in pursuance of this act, &c. un- 
til sutficient security shall be given, &c. in a pen- 
alty not exceeding sixty pounds." The funds ne- 
cessary to advance in employing lawyers to conduct 
the cause, and to pay heavy court expenses, are said 
to be thirty or forty pounds more; making, together, 
from four to five hundred dollars — about as much 
as some of the vessels are worth. Then there are 
the master and fishermen among strangers, stripped 
of their properly, and no person to assist ttiem in 
regaining it. Resides, having signed fishing 
agreements, to be jointly interested in the fishing 
enterprise, and being generally interested as part 
owners of the vessel, they would be excluded 
from testifying in the cause ;' and left wholly at the 
mercy of what has been well termed, in one of the 
letters I have received on the subject, "a worse than 
star-chamber court." 

The vessels, therefore, when once seized, are 
condemned and sold; the owners, in some instances, 
procuring a friend to buy the vessels at auction, as 
the cheapest way to gel out of court. 

There are several others I have an account of — 
amounting, in all, to about twenty — some of which 
were condemned ; others released, on payment of 
expenses, which amounted, in one instance, to SfiOO 
on a single vessel. I cannot learn that any satisfac- 
tion has ever been made by that Government to our 
citizens for th )se outrages; but our own Govern- 
ment, at my request, sent a sloop of M-ar into that 
neighborhood during the summer of 1840, the pres- 
ence of which checked the seizures for the time, 
although I learn they were renewed the next spring. 

Tlie violation of our rights of territory, properly, 
and person, by a band of armed men, under the au- 
thority of the British Government, in the destruc- 
tion ofthe steamer Caroline, and murder of at least 
one American citizen, on the Northern frontier, 
in 1837, is yet unatoned for; and the British minis- 
ter, in a correspondence with our Secretary of State, 
Mr. Forsyth, calls her a "piratical steamboat," and 
the persons who testified against him who was 
charged with being one of the murderers, " per- 
jured outlaws." He has even avowed the act, in 
his letter of December 13, 1840, as one of public 
force, " by persons in her Majesty's service, obey- 
ing the order of their superior authorities." 

And again, in his letter to the present Secretary 
of State, Mr. Webster, dated March 12, 1841, he 
says: 

" The transaction on account of which Mr. McLeod has been 
arresied, and is to be put upon his trial, vas a transaction of a 
public character, planned and executed by persons duly em- 
j)owered by her Majesty's colonial autlloritie^l to Inke any steps, 
and to do any acis, which might be necessary for the defence of 
her Majesty's territories, and for the protection of tier Majesty's 
subjects," &c. 



No satisfaction has yet been given by that Gov- 
ernment for the outrages committed on the Ameri- 
can brigs Comet in 1830, Encomium in 1834, En- 
terprise in 1835, and Creole and Hermosa in 1841. 
But I leave it to those gentlemen who are more 
directly interested than I am, and be'ter qualified to 
do justice to the subject, to call the attention of Con- 
gress and the country to the importance of exacting 
from Great Britain the most ample satisfaction for 
those wrongs and injuries. 

They have also invaded our territory in the 
Northwest, on the Columbia river; and, under pre- 
tence of establishing "trading-houses," are "estab- 
lishing numerous military posts and fortifications, 
and are filling them with soldiers, who, they pre- 
tend, are sent into the country for the purposes of 
trade and agriculture. But I will not dwell on a 
subject upon which the American people have been 
sufliciently enlightened by the labors and research 
ofthe gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Gush- 
ing,] and an honorable Senator from Missouri, [Mr. 
Linn.] 

Again: There are the insults offered to our flag, 
and the search and seizure of our ships, on the west 
coast of Africa, under the pretence of a suspicion 
that they were engaged in the slave-trade. Among 
the twenty-four cases of which I have seen some 
account, it will be sufficient to refer lo a few of 
those which have been made the subject of corres- 
pondence between our late minister to the Court of 
St. James, (Mr. Stevenson,) and Lords Palmerston 
and Aberdeen. 

Among those for which a formal demand of sat- 
isfaction has been made by our Government, are 
the following: 

The barque Jones, of New York, seized by the 
British brig-of-war Dolphin at St. Helena, because 
the captain ofthe American vessel would not sur- 
render his papers to the British ofl!icer. The brig 
Tigris, of Salem, by the British brig-of-war Water 
Witch, because the captain had an African boy on 
board as a hired servant. The ship Sea Mew, of 
Salem, by the brig-of-war Persian, because there 
was a small quantity of pine boards in the vessel, 
which had been used for flooring off her cargo. 
The crew of this ship were left on shore, and the 
master sent a prisoner in his own vessel, to Sierra 
Leone. I will mention but one other case — and that 
istheoutrage on the barque William and Francis, of 
New York, by the British brig-of-war Forrester. 

Captain Flowery, master ofthe barque, states, in 
substance, that she was boarded on the coast of Af- 
rica on the 15th of October, 1840, by two boats' 
crews from the English vessel, armed to the teeth 
with pistols, cutlasses, and carbines; that a demand 
was then made by the British officer, in a most inso- 
lent manner, for the ship's papers; that they were 
produced, and exhibited by Captain F. to the offi- 
cer, so that they might be read; that the officer de- 
manded possession of them, which was refused; that 
the British officer and men (eighteen in number) 
then took possession of the barque ; that, about 
noon, the British man-of-war anchored close to the 
barque, and the commander came on board with 
two boats' crews armed. Captain F. then produced 
his register, and held it for their perusal, as before 
stated. 

The commander persisted in having possession 
ofthe register; which Captain F. would not permit, 
for fear of its being destroyed, as the officers said 
they believed ihe William and Francis tobe Spanish 
property, under American papers. The commander 
then ordered the crew of the William and Francis 



12 



mustered, and put Captain P. under a guard; after 
which, the vessel was searched in the cabin, in 
trunks, and among clothing belonging to the officers 
and crew ; sealed letters were opened, and also bar- 
rels of bread. The English commander asked Capt. 
Flowery if he did not see the British ensign flying 
at his peaki "Yes," remarked Captain F., " and 
did you not see the American flag af my mast- 
head'?" "Oh, yes," answered the officer, " but we 
never mind it." About 5 p. m., they left the Wil- 
liam and Francis, after keeping Captain F. under a 
guard of four men, with drawn swords, for nearly 
a who4e day. 

Thus we see the American flag insulted; and 
American ships, with American papers, American 
masters, and American crews, boarded on the hi2:h 
seas by British cruisers, searched in the most inso- 
lent manner, trunks and sealed letters opened, and 
the masters and seamen put under a British guard. 

This pretended right of search, it is true, has, in 
the correspondence of Lords Palmer.ston and Aber- 
deen with Mr. Everett, been nominally abandoned. 
But they still persist in asserting the right of visit- 
ation, inspection of the ship^spa/pers, and a decision 
by the British officers as to their genuineness, regu- 
larity, and sufficiency io prove that the vessel is, in 
reality, what her flag Indicates. 

This is a right nowhere recognised by the law 
of nations — one which, if it existed, would be sub- 
ject to such abuses, that a nation with an immense 
navy, like Great Britain, might, in the exercise of 
it, drive the commerce of other nations from the 
ocean — one which the United States nevei have 
conceded, and never can concede, without sacrifi- 
cing both their interest and honor. If we concede 
to British cruisers the right of visitation, and of 
adjudicating on the nationality of the vessel, they 
will exercise the right of search, under various 
pretences and excuses. It would open a door to 
abuses and outrages which could never be closed. 
We cannot, iherefore, concede to a British officer 
t/ie right to visit an American ship, except by the 
invitation of her lawful commander. 

I have now, sir, examined some of the subjects 
which are pending between us and Great Britain. 
They are matters of great magnitude, involving 
questions of vital interest to the institutions, safety, 
happiness, and independence of the United States. 
Some of them are of long standing, and of great 
intricacy and delicacy ; and when I view them in 
all their magnitude and importance, and reflect on 
the course heretofore pursued by that Government, 



in her relations with other nations, I am free to 
confess 1 have little confidence that the negotia- 
tions of Lord Ashburton will terminate in a peace- 
ful adjustment of them. 

Why, then, reduce your army and navy at this 
time, even if they are larger than would be needed 
on a permanent peace establishmenf? Will you in 
effect disband your army, dismantle your navy, and 
throw down the walls of your fortifications, while 
all these great matters are wholly unsettled! Does 
the peaceful attitude of England induce you to do 
sol Is that the example she is setting for youl No. 
She is constantly and rapidly increasing her army 
and navy. She is everywhere arming and fortify- 
ing against you. She has increased her fortifica- 
tions at Halifax, where she has a large military 
and naval depot within a few hours' sail of the coast 
of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. 
She has increased her fortifications in New Bruns- 
wick and in the Canadas. She has a large body 
of troops now in her provinces. She has a line of 
military posts across the territory of one of your 
States, making a continuous line from Halifax to 
Cluebec. She has established military posts in our 
territory at the northwest. She \^ establishing an im- 
mense naval depot at Bermuda, near the coast of 
our southern States. She is strengthening her m.il- 

fary force in the West Indips:. She has, in fact, es- 
tablished a cordon of military posts around our 
whole country. In addition to which, she has a 
large fleet on the West India and North American 
station; and her steamers, built for war service, 
commanded by officers of her navy, and, as we are 
informed, with cannon, in their holds for ballast, are 
daily visiting our harbors, and surveying our coast; 
while we — good, easy men — can see no indications of 
danger, are crying "peace, peace;" and are about to 
commence a reduction of the army and navy. 

Let me not be misunderstood. I have a strong 
desire for peace with all nations, and would make 
some concesf 'ons and sacrifices to avoid a resort to 
the ultima ratio of nations. But I would have 
peace on just and honorable terms. The way to in- 
sure peace is to do justice to others, and exact jus- 
tice from them; or, in the language of a venerable 
ex-President, "to ask nothing that is not clearly 
right, and submit to nothing that is wrong." It is 
said that there is a point where forbearance ceases 
to be a virtue. In my judgment, we have long since 
passed that point; and I "fear we are rapidly ap- 
proaching that other point, where degradation and 
disgrace begin. 



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